


The burden of gemini

by Spaceprincealenko



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, Colonist (Mass Effect), F/M, If i can ever figure out how to write combat, Ruthless (Mass Effect), Sole Survivor (Mass Effect), Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:47:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27070693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaceprincealenko/pseuds/Spaceprincealenko
Summary: Lily and Aiden Shepard were born and raised on Mindoir together until they were 16 and Batarians forced them to leave their home now years later they're serving on the Normandy together under Capitan Anderson on a mission that turned out to be bigger than either of them thought.
Relationships: Jack | Subject Zero/Male Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Eden Prime

Lily hummed as she tucked her makeup back into her locker "Geez took you long enough, sure you're a marine?"

Lily looked up and saw her twin brother Aiden "Just because I want to look nice it doesn't make me less of a marine than you."

Aiden laughed "I'm messing with you Lil." 

Lily rolled her eyes "I hate you."

"No you don't." Aiden said matter of factly as he walked away.

Lily scoffed and stood up, dusting off her navy blue uniform and walking up the stairs to the CIC. Anderson had just requested Aiden's presence but it didn't mean she couldn't see what was going on in the cockpit. Lily was stopped by Jenkins waving at her and she made her way over to him and Chakwas, Aidan elbowing her in the arm "Think he's finally gonna ask you out?"

It was common knowledge he had a crush on Lily and while she only had eyes for someone else on the ship Jenkins seemed harmless enough so she didn't avoid him "Don't you have a captain to bother?"

"Hey, he called me."

"Good thing Chakwas stocks up on painkillers he's gonna need them for the headache he'll have after dealing with you." Aiden stuck his tongue out at her as he walked into the comm room and she did the same to him.

Chakwas shook her head at them "I swear you two…"

Lily shrugged "That's what Anderson gets for having us both here."

"So what brings you by?" Jenkins asked, looking at her like a love sick puppy.

"Just going to see Joker, the Captain didn't call for me but I'm nosey."

"I'm sure they'd appreciate your company." He blushed "I know I would."

Lily smiled "You're sweet." She felt she was leading him on a bit but there's no reason to be cold to him over a crush and if anything she hoped they could be friends. After a brief conversation she continued to the cockpit, she had lied, Joker wasn't the reason she was going up there it was Kaidan. Lily had a huge crush on him and she thought he felt the same but she was too nervous to ask. Kaidan noticed her come up behind them and turned to greet her "Hey Lily, good to see you."

Lily looked away, smiling "You too…" it was impossible for her not to feel shy around Kaidan, she had never felt this way about anyone before and she wasn't sure how to act.

Aiden walked to the cockpit and stopped next to Lily "Hey you two, suit up and meet us in the cargo bay." Aiden patted her on the back before jogging off.

"Aye aye." Kaidan and Lily said in unison something that embarrassingly enough made her blush.  
\--------  
Lily looked over as she put on her boots and saw Aiden had left his shotgun on the weapons bench, rolling her eyes she stood up and grabbed it, pushing it against his chest "You forgot this...again."

Aiden accepted it from her and rubbed the back of his neck "Thanks Lil."

"Uh huh." She stood next to him as they waited for Anderson "What did Anderson talk to you about?"

Nihlus shot him a look before he could answer "I'll uh I'll tell you later, promise." Aiden said as he attached his shotgun to his lower back.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged "I'll hold you to that."

Anderson was the last to join and made his way to where the ground team was lined up, stopping in front of them "Your team is the muscle in this operation Commander."

Aiden knew Nihlus was probably going to be watching him the entire time and if he were to be honest he thought it was annoying, the council never did anything for humanity so why should he care about what they think of him or the Alliance "Go in hard and head straight for the dig sight." Anderson's voice brought him back from his thoughts and he nodded, trying to pretend he had been paying attention.

"What about survivors, Captain?" It was a valid question, unfortunately though he doubted there would be any. 

"Helping survivors is a secondary objective, the beacon is your top priority." 

"Approaching drop point one." Joker's voice rang in over the comm, Aiden looked over and saw Lily getting jittery, she always did before a mission. It wasn't nerves, well not anymore she simply loved the adrenaline rush that came along with putting a bullet through someone. There were some things Aiden was happy their mother wasn't around to see and it was how the shy girl who was afraid of her powers grew up into someone who relished in taking someone's life. Bad guys of course but Torfan really did a number on her. 

Kaidan and Jenkins looked over as their Turian partner checked over his shotgun "Nihlus, you coming with us?"

Aiden was secretly hoping the Turian changed his mind, it's not like he had performance anxiety but having someone look over his shoulder and making critiques on how he did his job wasn't his idea of a good time "No but…" Nihlus pointed at Lily "You, human girl, come with me." He all but ordered 

"It's Lieutenant." She snapped as she walked over to him.

"What do you need her for?" Aiden knew she could look after herself, she wasn't a child but he'd appreciate an explanation.

"Is there a problem?"

"No just….splitting up wasn't part of the plan."

"We'll cover more ground this way." They watched as Nihlus charged off and Lily shrugged at Aiden before following behind him.

"Nihlus will scout out ahead, he'll feed status reports throughout the mission, other than that I want radio silence." 

"Ready and able sir." Aiden couldn't worry about Lily now, besides she was as capable as anyone on the ship but he didn't appreciate the lack of explanation as to why he literally ran off with his sister.

"The mission is yours now Shepard, good luck." 

Joker dropped them off and they stood on a cliff, looking over the destruction done to Edan Prime. It reminded Aiden of the day his colony was raided and he wondered if it was the same for Lily, but he pushed that to the back of his mind for now.

"Eden Prime will never be the same again." Kaidan spoke softly from behind him.

Aiden sighed and nodded "Yeah…" he turned away and the three of them walked away from the drop point running into the weirdest aliens Aiden has probably ever seen.

"What the hell are those?" Kaidan asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"Gas bags, don't worry, they're harmless." 

Aiden glanced at Jenkins then back at the creatures, taking his pistol out and pointing it at one, the sound it made when he shot it resembled the sound of popping a balloon "Damn!" Kaidan flinched and Aiden had to hold back a laugh, teasing his fellow officers wasn’t part of the mission, but it sure was fun.

They walked up a small hill taking cover behind what Aiden noted as conveniently placed rocks, Jenkins and Kaidan readied their weapons as Aiden surveyed the area. Deciding it was safe enough he gave the go ahead to move up, Jenkins went in first, none of them noticing the recon drone until it was too late "Shit!" 

They sprang up from behind their cover, Kaidan using overload on the drone, taking it out before Aiden could even fire his weapon, he had heard Kaidan was as skilled with tech as he was biotics and he hadn't disappointed. They hurried over to Jenkins' body, knowing there was nothing they could do to save him. Kaidan knelt down and closed Jenkins' eyes "Ripped right through his shields, never stood a chance." 

Kaidan stood back up and looked at Aiden, waiting for orders "We'll see that he receives a proper service after the mission." He turns his attention to Kaidan "But I need you to stay focused."

Kaidan nodded "Aye aye sir."

So far on his end the mission was going less than ideal and he could only hope it was going better for Lily and Nihlus.  
\------------  
"Are those…" Lily nudged one of the robots with her foot, rolling it on it's back "Geth?"

"I don't believe it…." Lily couldn't read him well but from the tone of his voice he was clearly surprised.

"Could they be here because of the beacon?"

"Would they have a use for it?"

Lily shrugged "I don't know, they haven't been seen in three centuries, who knows what they've been up to."

"Hm, radio the Commander, tell him we'll meet at the spaceport up there."

Lily nodded and pressed a finger against her ear, activating her comm "Change of plans Commander, there's a spaceport ahead Nihlus and I are gonna check out, meet us there." Lily jogged off behind Nihlus trying to catch up and nearly bumped into him as he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Saren?" 

Lily peaked from behind him, trying to see who he was talking to.   
"Nihlus, good to see you."

"This isn’t your mission Saren." Nihlus put his gun away and Lily cautiously followed behind him, her pistol still held firmly in her hand. It's not like she didn't trust Turians but there was something off about this Saren guy Lily but she couldn’t put her finger on it "What are you doing here?"

"The council sent me, they thought you could use a hand." Nihlus seemed convinced enough and Saren turned his attention to her "And you must be from the ship he's serving on."

"Lieutenant Shepard."

Saren stared at her and she'd be lying if she wasn't uncomfortable, they must've been close for Nihlus to believe him so easily but Lily couldn't help but feel like the other Turian was lying.

Nihlus turned to her "Survey the area, I'll join you soon."

Lily looked between them, she had no attachment to Nihlus but she had a gut feeling leaving him now wouldn't end well, Lily knew better than to question the council no matter how tempting that may be but she couldn't shake the feeling that something and she reluctantly agreed.

"Uh aye aye." She shot them one last glance before walking ahead, leaving the two spectres alone.

\--------  
"What's that, off in the distance?" Kaidan asked, blinking a couple times to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.

"I think it's a ship, look at the size of it!" 

Aiden had never seen anything like it, in fact it barely looked like a ship at all "Come on, I see the spaceport up ahead."

After picking off husks they made it to the port where they found Lily keeling down next to a dead Nihlus. 

"Lily!" He called out as he rushed over to her "What happened?"

Lily shook her head "I don't know, he told me to scout the area and not soon after I heard a gunshot and when I came back…" she gasped "Saren! It must've been Saren, damn it I knew something was up with him."

Aiden knelt down next to her "Slow down, who's Saren?"

"Some spectre friend of his, another Turian, he was acting strange, damn it I-" The sound of rustling cut her off and they stood up, pointing their weapons in the direction of the noise, scaring the dock worker who emerged from behind the crates.

"Wait! Don't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human!"

"I like the way you hid behind the crates during the fight, really helped us out. Thanks a lot." Aiden snapped. 

"What? but I don't even have a weapon." Lily and Aiden glanced at each other before lowering their weapons "I saw what happened to that turian, the other one shot him."

"I knew it, tell me what you saw!" Lily barked, making him flinch.

"Your friend let his guard down and Saren killed him, shot him right in the back." 

"Where did he go?" 

"The cargo tram, it goes straight for the dig site, I think he was heading for the beacon."

Aiden nodded and turned to his sister "Come on, we need to find that beacon before it's too late."   
\--------------  
They hopped off the tram and were greeted with the sound of beeping "Charges, the geth must've planted them." Kaidan pointed out.

Aiden looked over his shoulder "Lil can you disarm them?" she may have been a biotic too but tech was more her specialty, making her the logical choice.

Lily dashed over "If you can keep geth off me, sure." She activated her barrier and ran ahead of them, overloading any geth who got in her way as she went through disabling the bombs as quickly as she could. 

They were hidden pretty well but were also big enough that hunting them down wasn't too much of a challenge "That was the last one!" Lily called out as she stood up and followed them down the ramp to the beacon, taking out the last remaining geth. 

They holstered their weapons and Aiden stepped to the side to call for the Normandy while the three of them examined the beacon. 

"This is amazing, actual working prothean technology, unbelievable!" Lily exclaimed, she'd always been into all kinds of tech and while she never claimed to be a prothean enthusiast, there's no denying how fascinating the beacon was.

"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up." Ashley commented as she walked away.

"Something must've activated it." Kaidan added as he followed her, Lily couldn't help but get closer to the beacon. It fascinated her and before she knew it she was being pulled in.

"Lily!" Aiden ran for her, jumping up to grab her and throw her towards Kaidan, he caught her in his arms, both him and Ashley surprised by the sudden turn of events. Lily was disoriented and Kaidan slowly pulled her up against him, she looked up to see her brother being suspended in front of the beacon.

"Aiden!" She reached for him but Kaidan held her firmly against him.

"Don't touch him, it's too dangerous!" 

Aiden's body fell to the ground and Lily pushed Kaidan away from her, running over to her brother "Aiden?" She knelt down next to him and rolled him over onto his back, he was unconscious but breathing. 

Ashley knelt down next to her "Come on, the Lieutenant is calling your ship, I'll help you carry him." 

Lily nodded, she was still worried but she wasn't doing Aiden any favors by freaking out "Okay…"   
\--------  
Lily stood next to where Aiden was lying unconscious in the med bay, she felt guilty about the whole situation. Had her curiosity not gotten the better of her Aiden wouldn't have gotten hurt. 

The sound of the door opening caught her off guard and she turned around "How's he doing?" Kaidan asked, walking up next to her.

"Chakwas said he'll be fine but he hasn't woken up yet." 

Kaidan placed a comforting hand on her back "He will, don't worry." He would be the first to admit he's not very skilled at comforting people but he cared about Lily and he could tell she was worried "Why don't you get some rest, you must be tired from the mission."

Kaidan was right, she was exhausted. "Will you let me know if he wakes up?"

"Of course." 

"Thank you" she turned to walk away and Kaidan watched her, he hadn't been able to keep his eyes off Lily since he saw her, but fraternization regs so far have kept him from saying anything. Not only that but she was the younger sister of the XO, it would be inappropriate.   
\---------  
Kaidan watched as Aiden started stirring in his sleep "Doctor, Dr. Chakwas I think he's waking up."

Aiden slowly sat up, turning to face Chakwas on the side of the bed "How are you feeling Commander?"

Aiden groaned and hung his head "Like the morning after shore leave." He looked back up at her "How long was I out?"

"About fifteen hours."

Aiden looked over his shoulder and instead of his sister he found Kaidan "Where's Lily? Is she okay?" The last thing he remembered was that beacon trying to get a hold of her.

"She's fine, went to go get some rest but I messaged her she should be…" the door opened and all Kaidan saw was a wisp of black hair as Lily zoomed past him and over to Aiden "there she is."

"It's my fault I must've activated something when I got close to it you had to push me out of the way." Her head was hung low and she was frantic in her apology so much so he wasn't entirely sure that she had taken a breath between any of those words.

"Lil look at me." Lily glanced up at him "You had no way to know what would happen."

Lily smiled, her brother had always gone easy on her, never getting mad even when he would have every reason to, especially now.

"We don't even know that's what caused it and now we never will."

"The beacon exploded, system overload maybe and the blast knocked you cold, we had to carry you back to the ship." Kaidan interjected as he walked over to stand in front of him.

Aiden nodded in his direction "I appreciate it."

"Physically you're fine but I saw some abnormal beta waves, signs typically associated with lucid dreaming. Aiden stood up, leaning back against the end of the bed, looking down.

"I saw…." He looked over at them "I'm not sure what I saw, death? Destruction? Nothing is really clear." He shook his head, looking back down at the ground. 

"Hm, I'll have to add this to my report, let me run some more tests and-" she was cut off by the door opening "Oh, Captain Anderson."

"How's our XO holding up, doctor?"

"All the readings look normal, I'd say the Commander is going to be just fine."

"Good, now Commander I need to speak with you," he paused "Alone."

Kaidan saluted "Aye Aye sir, I'll be in the mess if you need me." 

Kaidan and Chakwas left but Lily was still by Aiden's side, refusing to leave "Are you sure you're okay?"

"You heard the Captain." He smirked "Unless you're so worried about your big brother you're willing to defy a direct order, how sweet." He teased, making her face go red from embarrassment.

"Ugh I can't stand you!" Lily stormed out and he chuckled as he watched, the Captain shaking his head at the exchange.

Lily stopped outside the door upon seeing Kaidan standing near the table in the mess hall, she had some time while Aiden and the Captain had their little meeting. Lily took a deep breath and walked over to Kaian, she had no reason to be nervous other than the fact she really wanted him to like her "Hey Kaidan…."

Kaidan smiled "Hey, how are you doing? I know the mission was rough on you too."

"I'm glad my brother is okay but I'm pissed off about Nihlus, I know I shouldn't have left him alone with Saren."

"That's not your fault, he trusted him he probably wouldn't have listened anyway."

"I just don't want the council to blame me for it."

"The Captain won't let that happen, we all know you aren't responsible for his death we'll have your back."

Lily smiled at him and his heart skipped a beat "Thank you."

Kaidan looked away awkwardly "Of course ma'am, we're marines we stick together."

"Right…" Lily wasn't sure if he was just oblivious or if he didn't look at her that way, she could fix the former but the latter hurt too much.

Aiden walked out of the med bay, he was supposed to head to the cockpit but decided to make a detour over to Kaidan and Lily "Not to interrupt but we're heading to the Citadel, head to the cockpit."

"Oh, okay." Aiden instantly felt bad upon hearing the disappointment in her voice, his little sister had always been his weakness, even now.

"I mean ya know, when you're ready." Aiden walked off, not wanting to get between them further. Well for now, he could tell Kaidan was a good guy but he didn't trust anyone with Lily.

"Guess we better go huh?" Kaidan glanced at her as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah…" they walked towards the stairs together, Lily stopping when she saw Ashley "Go on without me." She told Kaidan as she walked over.

"You must be Chief Williams, I'm Lieutenant Shepard." Lily held her hand out and Ashley shook it.

"Nice to meet you."

"Anderson told me you're part of the crew now."

Ashley nodded "Yes ma'am." She paused "I feel a little guilty, if Jenkins hadn't died I might not be here."

"I saw you in action, you deserve to be here, Anderson only wants the best on his ship."

Ashley gave her a small smile "Thank you ma'am, I have to admit I was a little nervous to be assigned to the Normandy, it's nice when someone makes you feel welcome."

Lily smiled "Of course, let's be friends okay?"

"I'd like that."

"Good, I wasn't taking no for an answer." Lily teased before walking ahead of her to the cockpit, she was a bit surprised. Lily was known as the butcher of Torfan but her personality seemed in complete contrast to that, although they had just met.   
\------  
They were pulling into the Citadel by the time they made it to the cockpit and Lily and Ashley ran to the window, both equally fascinated by the view, Kaidan had noticed Lily's gaze lingering on the ship they went past and spoke up.

"The ascension, flagship of the Citadel."

"It's main gun couldn't probably rip through any ship in the Alliance fleet!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Good thing it's on our side then." Kaidan replied, amused by her comment.

Lily looked over her shoulder and noticed Aiden was biting his lower lip, a nervous tick of his and she made her way over to him "Nervous about the council meeting?"

Aiden looked at her "How'd you know?"

Lily rolled her eyes "We sure as hell aren't here for a field trip Ai." 

"Everyone suit up, we'll be docking soon."

"Aye aye." The three of them replied as they walked off.

Aiden sighed, he knew the council would bitch about how the mission went and as much as he wasn't pleased either, a bunch of politicians telling him how to do his job wasn't his idea of a good time. As far as he was concerned they had no right to complain and it's not like he wanted the spectre position in the first place. It was good for the Alliance sure but he'd rather not answer to a group of pretentious aliens. Shaking his head he turned to walk away, hoping the meeting would go well.


	2. The hearing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still can't write combat orz

"This is an outrage, the council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!" Undina yelled.   
Aiden rolled his eyes from where he stood behind Anderson and Lily flinched, rubbing behind her ear, they'd always been sensitive and she was half convinced if he kept yelling like this it'd bust her eardrum. 

"The turians don't found colonies out in the terminus systems, ambassador." The salarian councilor retorted. Aiden was pretty sure if he rolled his eyes anymore they'd get stuck but it was hard to resist. These were the people they wanted him to answer to? No thanks. 

"Humanity was well aware of the risks when they ventured into the terminus systems." The asari councilor added.

Lily scoffed "Figures."

They all turned to look at her "Something to add Lieutenant?" Udina asked, annoyed at her or the council she wasn't sure.

"Not really, they said the same thing about Mindoir so I'm not sure why we expected them to act any different." Lily knew it was probably a bad move on her part but she didn't care, not like they could touch her anyway. If Anderson wanted to get on to her for it, fine. 

The Asari councilor sighed "We will discuss this at the hearing not before."

They ended the call and Udina shook his head, turning to look at them, shooting Lily a dirty look "Anderson come with me, we have things we need to go over before the hearing, the rest of you meet us at the citadel tower, top level."

Aiden waited until they left before speaking up "Gotta say sis, that was pretty ballsy of you."

"Yeah I'm surprised Udina didn't chew you out." Kaidan commented.

"Maybe he's hoping I'll behave myself at the hearing." 

Aiden raised an eyebrow at her "Will you?"

"I have to, I'm lucky Anderson let me get away with that outburst, I'm not going to push it."

Aiden sighed "Fair enough." He knew she still held a grudge about Mindoir, they didn't want to risk war with the terminus systems and told the batarians they'd leave them alone if they stayed out of citadel space, so their 'hands were tied' as they put it. That answer never sat well with Lily and evidently still doesn't. Eden prime more than likely brought all those feelings back, he knows it did for him. Aiden wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a quick hug "Come on, let's not keep them waiting."  
There was a reason he was the one they picked to be a spectre, she was too hot-headed, impulsive, hell she sent her entire squad to die on Torfan just to get revenge on a group of batarian slavers. Aiden on the other hand was the sole survivor of Akuze and had always been more meticulous with his decisions, his whole squad dying wasn't his fault like it was hers.   
\----------  
"The hearing already started." Anderson paused to look at Lily "Lieutenant please try to keep your outbursts to a minimum." He's known the twins for a long time and he knew he was asking a lot of her right now but things would go a lot smoother if she kept herself under control.

"Yes sir, I was out of line I apologize."

That seemed to be enough for Anderson and he gestured to them to follow him "Come on."

"The geth attack is a matter of some concern but there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved." Lily bit her tongue so hard it almost hurt, she was there, she saw Saren with Nihlus but if she said anything they'd just come up with some excuse as to why she was lying. 

"An eye witness saw Saren kill Nihlus in cold blood."

"We read the Eden Prime report ambassador, the account of a traumatized dock worker is hardly compelling evidence."

"I resent these accusations, Saren was a fellow spectre and friend."

"That just let you catch him off guard!"

"Captain Anderson, you always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me." He turned to Aiden "And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard, the one who let the beacon get destroyed."

Unlike the council Aiden believed the dock worker, traumatized or not but even if he didn't he trusted his sister wholeheartedly and if she said he was there then he'd take her word for it "The mission to Eden Prime was top secret, the only way you'd know about it is if you were there."

"With Nihlus gone his files passed to me, I read the Eden Prime report, I was unimpressed." Lily rolled her eyes, of course he had his bases covered and even if he didn't the council would still believe him "But what can you expect from a human?"

"You can expect me to kill you the next time we meet." Lily interjected. Aiden and Anderson sighed, not sure why they expected her to keep quiet but they were impressed she lasted as long as she did. 

"Your species needs to learn their place, you aren't ready to join the council." He looked at Aiden, "You aren't even ready to join the spectres."

"He has no right to say that, it's not his decision!" Udina shouted. Aiden had been trying his best not to tell them he didn't really care about being a spectre but he owed a lot to Anderson and the Alliance so he'd keep his mouth shut for now. 

"Shepards' induction into the spectres isn't the purpose of this meeting." The asari councilor said, trying to mediate the situation.

"This meeting has no purpose." Saren argued "The humans are wasting your time and mine." 

"There's still one last outstanding issue, Commander Shepard's vision." 

"Are we allowing dreams into evidence now, how can I possibly defend myself against this kind of testimony?" He was good at playing the victim and Lily already knew this was an argument they weren't going to win.

"I agree, our judgment must be based on facts not wild imaginings and reckless speculation." No one in the room was surprised the turian councilor sided with Saren, she was pretty sure if Aiden was a turian he'd believe him too. It was incredibly biased and it furthered her distaste for politicians.

"Do you have anything else to add Commander Shepard?"

Aiden was hard to read but she could tell he was dejected as he looked down and shook his head "You've made your decision, I won't waste my breath." 

The councilors looked at each other, seemingly coming to an agreement and the asari councilor turned her attention to them "The council has found no evidence to connect Saren and the geth." She paused "Ambassador your petition to have him disbarred from the spectres is denied.”

Lily didn't think turians could smirk but Saren did the closest thing to one "I'm glad to see justice was served." He ended the vid call and the three of them walked away, not seeing the point of standing around any longer. 

Lily nudged Aiden with her elbow "Hey, you okay?"

Aiden nodded "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Liar."

"Do you believe me Lil?"

"Of course I do." 

"Then I'm okay." Lily gave Aiden's hand a gentle squeeze, they'd always had each other's backs. Aiden could say the sky was green and she would back him up.

"It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing Capitan." They all turned around and saw Udina charge in behind them "Your history with Saren made the council question our motives."

"Back off Udina, they would have sided with Saren anyway, we all know that." Aiden said calmly, he understood the ambassadors anger but blaming Anderson for it wasn't fair.

"Can't we find I don't know...evidence or something?" Lily asked.

"What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator?" Kaidan chimed in "We saw him arguing with the executor."

"That's right, he mentioned needing more time for his report, maybe he found something." Lily agreed and while Aiden would admit it was a good idea, he also knew she would have agreed with Kaidan regardless.

"Any idea where we could find him?" Aiden asked.

"I have a contact in C-Sec who can help us track Garrus down, his name is Harkin."

"Forget it." Anderson cut in "They suspended Harkin last month, drinking on the job, I won't waste my time with that loser." While he did have a point Aiden wasn't sure what other choice they had.

"You won't have to, I don't want the council to use your history with Saren to dismiss anything we find." Udina nodded towards Aiden "The Commander will handle this."

Aiden shook his head "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of the investigation." 

"The Ambassador is right, I need to step aside."

"I have some things to take care of, Anderson meet me in my office later." Udina seemed to be satisfied with the conversation and walked away leaving the four of them alone.

"Harkin is probably getting drunk in Cora's den, it's a seedy club in the wards."

Aiden and Lily looked at each other and back at Anderson "I thought you said he was a drunken loser?" She'd do what was necessary to take down Saren but there wasn't any point in chasing down unreliable leads. 

"It couldn't hurt, just be careful not to trust everything he says."

"Aye aye sir, we'll be careful." If talking to some drunk in a bar was what would get the council to take action then that's what he'd do.

"Good luck Shepard, come find me if you need anything." 

Aiden turned to Lily and Kaidan "Come on you two, fingers crossed we can find something to get the council off it's ass." 

Lily snorted as she followed him to the transit console "Aye aye sir."  
\----------  
Lily sighed upon entering the club "A million light years from where humanity first began and we walk into a bar full of men watching half naked women shaking their asses on a stage." She shook her head "I don't know if that's funny or sad."

"What, you don't think they're here for the food?" Kaidan joked causing Lily to giggle. 

Aiden looked over his shoulder, thrown off by what he was hearing. Giggling, his sister, the butcher of Torfan was giggling and if it wasn't tied back he was pretty sure she would've been twirling her hair. Aiden looked over at Kaidan and while he wasn't laughing he had a goofy smile on his face and was looking at her like he was hypnotized.   
Aiden groaned and ran a hand down his face, he loved his sister and had nothing against Kaidan but if this was what he'd have to deal with the entire mission he might just join Saren.

"Come on you two, I see Harkin over there."

"Right behind you sir." 

"Yeah, lead the way Ai." 

Their gazes were still locked and Aiden just shook his head as he turned and made his way over to Harkin's table "You Harkin?" The man looked up from his drink and at Aiden.

"Who wants to know?" His speech was slightly slurred and Aiden was suddenly feeling less confident in the reliability of this particular lead.

"I heard you know where I can find Garrus."

Harkin looked past him and directly at Lily "Hey, there sweetheart, if more marines looked like you I might've joined the navy." Lily was pretty sure she threw up in her mouth a little bit "Why don't you sit your sweet little ass down next to Harkin, have a drink and we'll see where this goes."

"Full offense but I'd rather drink a cup of acid after chewing on a razor blade." Aiden did his best not to laugh, Lily looked sweet until she opened her mouth, something Harkin was currently finding out.

Harkin shrugged "Suit yourself princess." His words were followed with Lily slamming her hands down on his table, knocking over his drink.

"Call me princess again and you'll be picking your teeth up off the floor." She glared, that had officially turned Harkin off and he turned his attention back to Aiden who was glaring at him. In his opinion Lily was too nice, he would’ve actually knocked his teeth out.

"Alright, alright geez, Garrus huh?" Harkin looked them over and smirked "You must be Captain Anderson's crew, poor bastard is still trying to take Saren down." He leaned in "Did the Captain let you in on his big secret?" 

Aiden shook his head "That's not why I'm here." If it wasn't something Anderson wanted to tell them then he'd respect it instead of going behind his back.

"The Captain used to be a spectre, bet ya didn't know that did you?"

"Just tell me where Garrus is before this gets ugly." As curious as Aiden was this wasn't the time to listen to a story that might not even be true.

"But it's all related don't you see? The Captain used to be a spectre, messed up his mission so bad they kicked him out but he claims Saren set him up."

"Just tell me where Garrus went." It was a demand now as Aiden's patience withered away.

"Last I heard Garrus was sniffing around doctor Michele's office, she runs a med clinic in the wards."

"Thanks, we'll head over now."

"Good, go let me drink in peace."

"Why didn't the Captain tell us he used to be a spectre?" Anderson was like a father to her, he'd been in her and Aiden's lives since he pulled them off Mindoir yet she knew hardly nothing about his past. Every time she asked he brushed her off and yet all these strangers know more than she does.

"Maybe it's not true, Harkins an ass he was probably just messing with us." Lily was hard to read but he could tell she seemed down.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She gave him a small smile and he blushed, unfortunately with regs admitting his feelings was career suicide but every time she smiled at him it made him want to throw cation to the wind and tell her how he felt.

"Come on lovebirds we have a turian to find." He teased as he walked down the corridor ahead of them.

They turned the same shade of red and Lily used her biotics to shove him "Hey!" 

"You asked for it!" She stomped off and got them a cab at the transit terminal, when Lily was embarrassed she often lashed out depending on who it was and it was almost always Aiden so she never felt bad.  
\---------  
They made it to the wards and as they walked to the clinic they noticed Lily was gone "Did you see her leave Kaidan?"

"No sir."

"Huh." Aiden searched around and eventually his eyes landed on her, she was standing at the overlook, gazing at the ward arms.

"Big place." Kaidan commented, equally as fascinated as she was now that he was seeing up close.

"That your professional opinion Lieutenant?" Aiden teased.

"But he's right, I mean look at the ward arms, how do they keep all that from coming apart?"

"I wonder if they keep us out because they don't like humans or if we'd just be another drop in a bucket they already can't carry?" 

"What's not to like Ai? We have oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love, according to the old vids we have everything they want."

"When you put it that way there's no way they wouldn't like you?" Aiden shot Kaidan a look, more surprised by the boldness of that statement than anything else.

"I mean us, humans...ma'am." Kaidan rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, clearly embarrassed.

Lily was far from embarrassed, Kaidan just told her that he thought she was beautiful. Men had said it in the past but she never believed them, hearing it from Kaidan was different.  
"I'll walk drag." Aiden was getting more nauseous the longer he was around them and he wasn't sure how much more he could take. Lily gave Kaidan a flirty look and purposely brushed her hand against his as she followed her brother.

\---------  
Immediately upon entering the clinic they found doctor Michelle being hassled by a group of thugs.  
"I didn't tell them anything, I swear!" She pleaded, praying they wouldn't hurt her.

"That was smart doc and if Garrus comes around you better stay smart." The thug looked up briefly as Aiden walked in, grabbing the doctor and holding her against him "Who are you?!"

Aiden whipped out his pistol and pointed it at him "Let her go." Aiden didn't want to risk shooting a hostage but before he could make another move Garrus emerged from behind the crates and shot the man through the head and the doctor let out a yell as the man fell to the ground and set her free. Michelle ran off to the side as the fight broke out in front of her, Lily and Kaidan activated their barriers and Lily ran off ahead, a habit of hers. The extra layer of protection made her cocky so she often ran off ahead without thinking.  
Lily overloaded the explosive container between two of the men while Kaidan threw one of the crates, crushing the man standing behind it. Aiden pulled the remaining man towards him and took him out with a couple shots, his body falling to the ground.  
After making sure no one was going to jump out at them they put their guns away and made their way to the clearly scared doctor. 

"Commander, thank you for giving me a shot at that bastard."

"You took him down clean."

"Sometimes you get lucky." Garrus turned his attention to doctor Michelle "Doctor are you hurt?"

"I'm fine thank you, all of you." Even though she claimed to be fine Aiden could tell she was still scared by the way her voice shook.

"Why were they after you? Who do they work for?" If she wanted their help they'd need information no matter how scared she was.

"I think they work for Fist, they wanted to shut me up and keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian." 

"What quarian?" Lily had never met a quarian but their history fascinated her, especially their history with the geth.

"A quarian came to see me, she was scared and had been shot in the arm, she asked me about the Shadow Broker. Said she had information to trade for a safe place to hide."

"What did you tell her?"

"I pointed her towards Fist, he's an agent for the Shadow Broker." The doctor explained, with a name like that, Lily wondered how he was taken seriously, it sounded like the name of a cartoon villain. 

"Not anymore more," Garrus cut in "Now he's working for Saren and the Broker isn't happy about that."

"Fist betrayed the Broker?" Doctor Michele gasped "That's stupid even for him."

"That quarian must have something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."

"Did she mention anything about Saren or the geth?" Aiden figured it was a long shot but still, he had to ask.

"She did! She said she had something that can prove Saren is a traitor."

"She must be able to link Saren to the geth, there's no way the council can ignore this!" 

While it sounded good in theory, Aiden himself wasn't too confident "Time to pay Fist a visit." 

"I want to bring Saren down as much as you do, I'm coming with you!"

"Why do you want to bring Saren? He's a turian like you." It's not that she didn't trust Garrus but it was odd he was so desperate to take him down.

"Saren is a traitor to the council and a disgrace to my people!" It was a convincing enough argument and if Aiden was okay with it she wasn't going to object.

"Alright you've made your case, welcome aboard Garrus." Almost as if he was reading her mind, Aiden agreed. If he ended up chasing Saren halfway across the galaxy he'd need all the help he could get and while Garrus did come off as one of those stereotypical hot-headed cops from the vids Lily loved to watch, maybe that's just what they'd need to take Saren down.


	3. First human spectre

"Garrus and Alenko you're coming with me." Aiden turned to his sister "Lily, go update Anderson and the ambassador."

"What? But Aiden-"

"That's an order lieutenant." He cut her off.

Lily gaped at him then pouted "I hate when you pull rank." She mumbled as she skulked off to the transit terminal.

Aiden looked at them "Okay you two, back to Chora's den."

Kaidan saluted "Aye aye sir."

"Right behind you Shepard." Garrus answered with a nod.

Aiden led them to the markets and down the stairs to Chora's den, he could already tell something was off as soon as they showed up, the music that could usually be heard all the way to the transit terminal was gone and there was no one going in and out of the club.

"Looks like it's shut down." Kaidan commented.

"Be ready." Aiden drew his gun and charged in, Garrus and Kaidan following behind him. It was quite the fight, open area with improvised cover and charging krogan, Aiden knew Lily would be mad he kept her out of it. Aiden could hear movement on the other side of the door and he quickly slammed the green entrance console opening the sliding door and revealing two warehouse workers.

"All the real guards must be dead." Garrus observed as Aiden moved in closer, holstering his weapon, Kaidan and Garrus cautiously following his lead.

"Nobody come any closer!" One of the men shouted at them, his hands were trembling as he held his gun and Aiden took too much pity on him to just mow them down.

"I just killed fifty guards to get in here, what do you think I'll do to you?" Aiden glared, he was still willing to gun them down if they gave him no other choice of course.

The men lowered their guns "Screw Fist he's not worth this." They dashed out of the room with their tails between their legs before Aiden could change his mind.

"I never would've thought to do that." Garrus sounded impressed and honestly Aiden himself was surprised it had worked.

"Shooting someone isn't always the answer." Kaidan replied, it was a weird thing to hear in this line of work but Kaidan had always struck him as more level headed and less trigger happy, opting more to use his powers and even then only mostly using his biotics as a barrier, relying more on his omni-tool.

"I think Fist is through that door, stay alert, who knows what's waiting for us in there." They entered the room Fist was hiding in and immediately took cover, avoiding the fire of the two turrets he had set up. Kaidan overloaded a turret and threw one of the tables in the room at fist, knocking him to the ground as they finished off the turrets. They approached Fist who was cowering on the floor below them.

"Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender!" He shouted frantically as Aiden drew his gun and pointed it at him.

"Where's the quarian?" 

"I don't know, I swear!"

"He's lying." Garrus commented, something which Aiden agreed with. 

Aiden looked in Garrus' direction "Put a round in his leg, see if he talks."

Garrus nodded but before he could even reach for his gun Fist shouted "Wait, don't shoot I'll talk!" Aiden gestured for him to stand and Fist slowly brought himself to his feet "No one meets the Shadow Broker, even I don't know his true identity."

"Yeah and?" Aiden's patience was wearing thin and he just needed him to get to the point.

"So I told her I'd set up a meeting, but when she shows up it'll be Saren's men waiting for her." Fist explained.

Aiden stepped in close and pointed his gun back in Fist's face "Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your lying head off!" He threatened.

"The back alley by the markets, she's supposed to meet them now but you can make it if you hurry."

Aiden glared "Appreciate it, unfortunately I can't let you walk away Fist."

"No please-!" A shot rang out into the small room a mix of blood and brain matter splattered on the wall behind Fist "Come on, that quarian is dead if we don't go now."  
\--------  
They snuck into the alleyway watching the scene between a turian and the quarian in question play out "Where's Fist?"

"He'll be here." The turian ran a hand down her helmet and stopped at her shoulder "Do you have the evidence?"

The quarian slapped his hand away "Forget it, the deal is off." The turian didn't seem to like that and he gestured at his two salarian henchmen and they emerged from behind a crate. The quarian threw a grenade and ran to find cover, as it exploded and clouded the area in smoke. While she wasn't as helpless as Aiden had originally assumed, it didn't feel right standing around and they charged down the stairs to make sure they not only got the evidence but made sure the quarian was safe. 

The quarian turned to them after the fighting "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" 

"Don't worry about Fist, he got what was coming to him." 

From what Aiden could tell she seemed to relax at that "I guess there are two things I need to thank you for." She paused "Who are you?"

"My name is Shepard, I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren is a traitor."

"Then I have a chance to thank you for saving my life, but not here we should go somewhere safe."

"The ambassadors' office it's safe there, he'll want to see this anyway." Kaidan chimed. 

"Good call, let's go." Aiden led the way and they followed him out of the alley, he hoped that whatever this quarian has is compelling enough to convince the council but without even knowing what the evidence in question was it was hard to say.  
\-------  
They entered Udina's office and before he could even say anything the ambassador ambushed him "Firefights in the wards and all out assault on Chora's den do you have any idea how many-" he paused upon seeing the quarian "Who's this, what are you up to Shepard?" 

"This quarian can help us bring down Saren, I would've told you that had you not jumped down my throat." Aiden was hardly ever in the mood to deal with politicians but especially today.

"I'm sorry...this whole issue with Saren has me a bit on edge." 

"Yeah me too but you don't see me-" 

"Would you both stop it?" Lily interrupted "we have bigger problems remember?" It was odd to see her as the voice of reason but they both knew she was right.

"My apologies, let's try this again, miss?" 

"Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." She pulled up her omni-tool "During my travels I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world, I waited for one to become separated from its unit and then I disabled it and removed its memory core."

"And how does that help us?" Aiden was getting Impatient, he hadn't asked for a story, he just wanted a way to prove Saren was a traitor.

"While most of the core was wiped clean I was able to salvage something from it's audio banks." Tali explained.

Finally "Then let's hear it."

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit."

"That's Saren's voice, this proves he was involved in the attack!" Anderson exclaimed.

"Saren won't get out of this one." Aiden was excited, this whole investigation was a wild goose chase and it was thankfully coming to an end. 

"Wait, there's more, Saren wasn't working alone."

"And one step closer to the return of the reapers." 

The name reapers had Aiden feeling unnerved and he wasn't sure why "I feel like I've heard that name before…" Aiden spoke up, unconsciously wringing his hands together.

"According to the memory core fifty thousand years ago the reapers hunted the protheans to total extinction and then they vanished." Tali explained "At least that's what the geth believe."

Udina scoffed "Sounds a little far-fetched."

Aiden wasn't sure it was because he couldn't stand Udina or he was actually wrong but the ambassadors complete dismissal of the voice clip didn't sit right with him "The vision on Eden Prime, I understand it now, I saw the protheans getting wiped out by the reapers." 

Udina looked down at the ground and sighed, shaking his head "The council is just going to love this."

Lily rolled her eyes as hard as physically possible "They won't believe us anyway, leave them out of it." She knew that wasn't really an option but maybe she'd get lucky.   
"Lily's right, this is a lot to handle, they might just ignore everything we tell them." 

"No matter what they think about the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren is a traitor." Anderson reasoned with them.

"The Capitan is right, we need to present this to the council." Udina agreed. 

Lily and Aiden shot each other a look from across the room, she had zero faith in them but luckily she wasn't the one who had to present everything, the person with that honor was unfortunately her brother and she could tell he wasn't too confident about it either.

"What about the quarian?" Lily asked, nodding over in Tali's direction.

"My name is Tali!" She snapped, surprising Lily before turning her attention to Aiden "You saw me in the alley Commander, you know what I can do, let me come with you."

The quarians created the geth, having one along might give them some insight on why they would've followed in organic in the first place "I'll take all the help I can get." 

"Thanks, you won't regret this." He couldn't really tell if she was smiling through the helmet but from the excited tone of her voice he could tell she was happy.

"Anderson and I will get things ready with the council, collect yourselves and meet us in the tower." 

Lily took a hesitant step towards Tali, extending her hand "Nice to meet you Tali, I'm Lily." Tali blinked at her before taking her hand and shaking it "I uh I've always been fascinated in the geth since we learned about them in school, maybe when we have down time we could talk?" Lily blushed and fidgeted nervously.

Aiden laughed and came up behind Lily "You'll have to excuse my sister here Tali, she's a huge tech geek, what she wants to know is if she can pick your brain."

Lily pulled away and hit his arm "Shut up you ass." 

Tali didn't have any siblings and had very little experience with humans so she wasn't sure if this was normal behavior or not but Lily seemed nice enough "Sure." The twins stopped their bickering and turned towards her "I'm sure I'll have questions about your ship you could answer for me."

Lily's face lit up "Of course, I'd be happy to!" 

"Tali, Garrus, go get settled on the ship." He ordered "Lily, Alenko come with me."  
\--------------  
Saren's voice rang out through the tower as they approached Udina "You wanted proof, there it is."

"This evidence is irrefutable Ambassador, Saren will be stripped of his spectre status and will be brought in to answer to his crimes." Lily was shocked to hear that from the turian councilor of all people but at least he wasn't covering for Saren again.

"I recognize the other voice, the one speaking with Saren, Matriarch Benezia." Another traitor probably, not that it mattered if she was working with Saren he'd bring her down one way or another "She's a powerful biotic and had many followers, she will make a formidable ally for Saren." The asari councilor continued. 

"I'm more interested in the reapers, what do you know about them?" 

"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core, the reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the protheans and then vanished soon after." Anderson explained to them.

"The geth believe the reapers are gods and Saren a prophet for their return." Aiden told them, waiting to be told they were crazy any minute now.

"We believe the conduit is the key to bringing them back and Saren is searching for it, that's why he attacked Eden Prime." Anderson continued.

"Do we even know what this conduit is?" The salarian councilor challenged, not at all to Aiden's surprise. 

"Saren thinks it can bring back the reapers, is that not enough?" Lily interjected as she walked up next to Aiden, she didn't have her brother's visions, she didn't see the destruction they caused but if they were as big a threat as Aiden described they needed to be stopped.

"Listen to what you're saying, Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible it has to be." While, and it pained him to admit it the turian councilor did have a point, Aiden knows what he saw and he wouldn't have ran all around the Citadel chasing down leads if he was lying.

"I tried to warn you about Saren, and you refused to listen, don't make the same mistake again." Aiden warned.

"This is different, you proved Saren betrayed the council and is searching for the conduit but we don't know why." Aiden wanted to scream, he just told them why but of course it was easier to ignore him and claim he just hit his head in the blast and the vision was a figment of his imagination. 

"The reapers are obviously just a myth Commander, a convenient lie Saren used to cover up his true purpose."

"Fifty thousand years ago, the reapers wiped out all galactic civilization, if Saren finds the conduit it will happen again!" Aiden shouted at them, he wasn't Udina, he didn't answer to the council, he didn't have any reason to be respectful as far as he was concerned. 

"Like we said we've stripped him of his position, he no longer has the rights or resources of a spectre." The turian councilor seemed unfazed by Aiden's outburst and that somehow made Aiden angrier. 

"That's not good enough, you know he's in the Traverse, send your fleet in!" Udina demanded.

"A fleet cannot track down one man." The salarian councilor swiftly declined the idea before the other members could even though it was obvious their answer would've been the same.

"The Citadel fleet could secure the entire region, keeping the geth from attacking more colonies."

"We won't be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies!" The turian councilor declined. 

Lily took a few deep breaths to keep her biotics in check, they always flared when her emotions got the best of her. Lily joined the Alliance to protect colonies like the one she grew up on but nothing had changed, even thirteen years later they refused to help human colonies no matter how atrocious the acts inflicted upon them were and it infuriated her. "Every time humanity asks for help you ignore us!"   
Aiden was the only one who knew the pain behind those words because he felt it too. They lost their home and everyone they loved and so have a lot of other colonies because the council refused to act in the past. There was nothing they could do then but hopefully they'd be able to protect at least a few from the geth. 

"Shepard's right, I'm sick of this council and its anti-human bull-" gasps came from the spectators above but Aiden agreed they were very biased against humans, not that he knew why but it didn't matter.

The asari councilor quickly raised her hand to stop him "Ambassador! There is another way to stop Saren that doesn't require a fleet."

"No! It's too soon, humanity isn't ready for the responsibility of joining the spectres." The turian councilor quickly declined before anyone else could say anything.

"It was a turian spectre who betrayed the council and it was a human who exposed him, I've earned this!" Aiden may not have wanted it in the first place but if that's what needed to happen for him to stop Saren then he was okay with that.

The councilors each exchanged a look seemingly coming to the same agreement as they typed something on the consoles in front of them. "Commander Shepard, step forward." Aiden looked over at Anderson who smiled and gave him a short nod, if there was anyone he trusted more then Lily it was Anderson and if he was behind it then Aiden would just have to trust him. Aiden nodded back and stepped forward as the asari councilor requested, he looked up and saw as people, mostly humans leaned over the railings to watch. "It is the decision of the council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the special tactics and reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." The asari councilor spoke, her voice causing the whispering from above to cease.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen, individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above rank and file." The salarian councilor continued.

"The spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the council, instruments of our will." Aiden's head was starting to spin as their speech continued and he was even more overwhelmed than before.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold." 

"You are the first human spectre Commander, this is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

Aiden let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and spoke "I'm honored councilor." 

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren, he's a fugitive from justice so you are authorized to use any means necessary to eliminate him." 

"I'll find him." They ended the meeting and Aiden turned towards Anderson, who shook his hand.

"Congratulations Commander." 

Aiden smiled "Thank you sir."

Lily came up to him and hugged him "I'm proud of you Ai, mom would be too." 

Aiden wrapped his arms around her "Thanks Lil, I hope so."

"Anderson, come with me, I need your help setting everything up." They pulled apart and watched as Udina and Anderson walked off.

"Not even a thank you from the Ambassador." Lily mumbled.

Aiden shrugged "What do you expect from a politician?" He smiled at her "Come on you two."

"Right behind you Commander." Kaidan answered as they followed Aiden down the stairs.  
\-----------  
"You. Human. You the one they call Shepard?" They were stopped outside the elevator by a Krogan, he didn't look too happy to see them and Lily inched her hand towards her pistol just to be safe.

"Who wants to know?" Aiden asked, his day was finally looking up and he was really hoping this krogan wouldn't ruin it.

"The name's Wrex, the Shadow Broker paid me a lot of money to get rid of Fist only you got there first."

Aiden didn't have time for a pretty grudge, if this krogan wanted a fight he'd get one but he had a rogue spectre to take down "It's not my fault you were slow to the draw."

Wrex apparently didn't like that and pushed Aiden back "When I get paid to do a job, I finish it. Alone."

"I don't like where this is going." Kaidan whispered to her.

"Yeah...me neither." Lily answered, her hand resting on the hilt of her pistol.

"But I didn't finish the job, Shepard you did, the payment is yours."

"Bounty hunters don't just go around paying off people who take their contracts." Aiden stated plainly.

"I won't take credit for someone else's work, I transferred the payment into your account." Lily relaxed and exchanged a look with Kaidan who was as surprised as she was "I liked the way you handled fist, now I hear you're going after Saren."

"I am, what about it?" Aiden had some idea as to where this was going.

"I was thinking I should come along."

Lily shrugged "A krogan would come in handy Ai." She wasn't going to tell him who and who not to have on his ship but krogan were feared for a reason.

"We'll take you with us Wrex." 

"Smart move Shepard." 

"Not at all where I thought that was heading." Lily commented as they entered the elevator taking them to the docking bay.

"Let's just hope we don't regret taking him with us." Aiden replied as he hit the button, closing the door.  
\--------  
"I've got big news for you Shepard, Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer, the Normandy is yours now."

"She's quick and quiet and you know the crew, perfect ship for a spectre." 

"This isn't right, the Normandy belongs to you." Aiden protested, it didn't feel right and he couldn't help but feel as if the Captain was being forced to hand him the ship. 

"You need your own ship, a spectre answers only to the council and it's time for me to step down." Anderson looked down at the ground, confirming his hunch that the Captain handing over the Normandy wasn't entirely his idea.

"Your actions still reflect on humanity, you make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up."

Aiden rolled his eyes "I'll take care of Saren, you take care of the political fallout." 

"Not exactly the answer I was looking for." He shook his head "I have a meeting to get to, I'm sure the Captain can answer any questions you may have." Udina was clearly tired of dealing with Aiden and hurried over to the elevator, leaving them with Anderson. 

"Are you sure you're okay with this sir?"

"You're a spectre now Aiden and this is your mission, you don't need me standing over your shoulder the entire time." 

"Anderson if there's anyone I'd be okay with looking over my shoulder it's you."

Anderson smiled and placed a hand on Aiden's shoulder "I know you'll do me proud Aiden, if there's anyone I trust with her with, it's you." Whenever Aiden was around Anderson he felt like a child, he was the father Aiden never had, the one he always wanted. If Anderson was telling him this was the right move then he'd believe him.

"I won't let you down sir."

"I know you won't son." He looked over at Lily "Keep an eye on him though Lily, you know how much of a troublemaker he can be."

Lily smiled and saluted him "Yes sir."

"Now get a move on, you've got a lot of ground to cover." Anderson let go of him and watched as they walked onto the Normandy, he wasn't lying when he said he was proud and he knew if he told the scared, angry kid whose only priority was looking after his little sister that he'd one day become the first human spectre Aiden wouldn't believe him.   
\--------  
Aiden made his way to the cargo hold, feeling different. The Normandy it was his now, he was a spectre and he was half tempted to ask Lily to pinch him just to make sure this was all real. 

Aiden walked up to her as she finished putting her uniform back on and was tucking her armor back into her locker "Hey Lil?"

"Hm?"

"Can you ah….can you pinch me real quick?"

Lily looked at him and snorted "What?" Clearly amused by the request "Ai, this isn't some weird dream we're both having I assure you."

"Just shut up and do it."

Lily laughed "Fine, fine." She pinched him as hard as she could and he pulled away as a reflex.

"Ow, you didn't have to do it that hard." He complained, rubbing the pink mark she left on his pale skin.

"You asked me to, but do you believe me now?"

"It feels so surreal." His arms fell to his side and Lily took one of his hands in hers.

"I know but if they didn't think you could do it they wouldn't have made you a spectre."

"I guess you're right."

"Now come on" Lily pulled him towards the elevator "You have a galaxy to save."

"I think you mean we have a galaxy to save." Aiden knew this mission was going to be tough and if there was anyone he wanted by his side as he took down Saren it was her, they’ve always had each other's backs through everything and it was only fitting they fought side by side as they took down the biggest threat in the galaxy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry this took forever, I was working on moving out of state and uh yeah that's the only excuse I have

22 years ago

"Can you pull my basketball towards you?"

"Hmmm I think so?" Lily concentrated on the ball across from them on the yard, raising her hand up, both her and the ball bathed in blue light in a matter of seconds as she pulled the ball towards them briefly before it fell to the ground "Guess I need more practice."

"That's still so cool that I wish-" Aiden paused as he looked over at her, noticing the blood dripping from her nose "Are you okay Lil?" She didn't respond, her eyes dropping as she stared blankly at the basketball in front of her "Lily?" 

Lily came back as quickly as she slipped away and looked over at Aiden "Huh?"

"You had a seizure" He stated as he grabbed one of the newly dried rags still hanging off the railing to the front of their prefab "And your nose is bleeding." He pressed the rag against her nose gently, careful not to hurt her "Come on, let's get you some water."

Lily held the rag to her nose as Aiden helped her up and led her inside to the kitchen. Lily sat down on one of the chairs to the kitchen table, her head feeling like it always did after one of her seizures, like there was a spider web on her brain, only able to focus enough to keep the rag pressed to her nose. Aiden watched her as closely as he could as he got her a glass of water, making sure she didn't fall into another one of her absence seizures, as the doctor called them "I'm sorry Lil." Aiden's eyes were down cast as he handed her the glass of water, feeling guilty.

Lily set the rag down, luckily there wasn't enough blood on it to cause alarm "Why?" She took the glass from him and she didn't realize how thirsty she actually was until she gulped down nearly half of it.   
"If I hadn't asked you to use your powers you wouldn't have had a seizure." Their mother didn't like Lily using her powers and they both just assumed it was because she had to hide them. Since Lily's powers manifested a couple years ago Hannah had suddenly become over protective of Lily, the addition of her disability not making things any better.

Lily shook her head, setting the glass down on the table "It's not your fault, I'll just have to be more careful." Aiden didn't seem comforted by that in the slightest and she pulled him into a hug "You're my best friend Ai, I could never be mad at you."

Aiden hugged her back, he had been tasked with looking after her when their mother wasn't around and he was mad at himself for being careless and letting his curiosity get the better of him.   
Hannah walked into the prefab, her blonde hair coming out of its ponytail and sweat on her brow from being out in the sun all day "Hey, what's wrong you two?" She looked at the table, the bloody rag next to Lily catching her eyes and she rushed over to her "What happened baby girl?" Aiden moved to stand next to his sister as their mother kneeled in front of her, brushing Lily's hair back, brow furrowed in concern as she searched her face.

"I'm okay mom, it's no big-"

"It's my fault, I asked Lily to use her powers and she got a bloody nose." Hannah looked at him and sighed, it's not like she could get mad at them, you can't give a kid telekinetic powers and expect them not to be curious "I was about to write the seizure in the journal."

Hannah ruffled his thick black hair "It's okay sweetie I'll take care of it." She turned back to Lily "Your head feel okay?"

Lily nodded, slumping against her mother and wrapping her arms around her "I'm just tired."

Hannah wrapped her arms around Lily "Then let's get you to bed." She turned to Aiden, smiling "Thanks for looking after her." 

Aiden watched them walk away, he was grateful his mother or Lily for that matter wasn’t mad at him but it still didn’t make him feel any better.   
\-------------  
Present day

"So how are you feeling Shepard?" Chakwas asked as she scanned her "Is the medication doing it's job?"

Lily rolled her eyes "I'm fine, I haven't had a seizure since the shore leave before this cruise."

Chakwas glanced up at Lily from her omni-tool "Six months is the ideal lieutenant, not one."

Clearly tired of the conversation Lily hopped off the bed "Don't you think Aiden would've dragged me in sooner if they were a big problem?"

Chakwas took her shoulders and set her back down on the bed "While that may be true I need you to stay still or I may decide I need to do some blood work." 

Lily tensed up at the mention of a needle "Okay, okay, I'll behave." 

"Good, now from these readings I can tell you won't be medically discharged any time soon but don't get reckless."

"I know the drill, no caffeine, get as much sleep as I can and try to avoid too much stress, can I go?" Lily hated talking about her disability as much as she hated having it but somethings just couldn't be avoided. 

"And no alcohol." Chakwas added, giving her a stern glance. 

"Right...the fun rule."

Chakwas laughed "I’m sure you’ll manage.” she put her omni-tool away and walked back to her desk “You’re free to go.”

Lily sighed and stood up "Thanks doc, I'll try to be on my best behavior." 

"I'm sure your brother will tell me if you aren't." Chakwas said half joking, Aiden was the reason she was in the med bay this morning to begin with, despite her protests.

Lily groaned "Trust me I know." She muttered as she walked out the door and into the mess hall, finding her brother trying to appear casual as if he hadn't been waiting for her to walk back out. Rolling her eyes she took a seat across from him "Before you ask I'm fine, just a regular check up."

Aiden shrugged as he looked down at his data pad "I wasn't but good to know." Lily smirked, time to put her acting chops to the test, she looked down at the table and sniffed, catching his attention "What's wrong?"

"It's just...you become a spectre and suddenly stop caring about me." She wiped away a fake tear "but it's fine, we have bigger things to worry about, I get it, really."

Aiden dropped his data pad "No, it's just I get that you're an adult you don't need me to look after you that's all!" He was frantic as he tried to reassure her but paused as realization dawned on him "You're faking aren't you."

Lily glanced up at him, not a tear to be found as she grinned at him "Caught me." 

Aiden shook his head and sat back in his chair "I can't stand you."

Lily laughed "You wish that was true." She reached over and grabbed his data pad "So what's on the agenda?"

"Saving that asari scientist, I figure it'd be best to nab her first before we go see her mother." 

"Sounds…" Lily trailed off as Kaidan walked into the mess hall and over to the console he could never seem to stay away from "good." 

Aiden quirked an eyebrow at her "Lil? Did you hear me?"

Lily nodded, turning her attention back to Aiden "Oh yeah, totally, absolutely, yep." Aiden turned around in his chair, following her gaze as it flicked back to Kaidan, now it made sense.

"Go ahead." He waved her off, exasperated and she bolted out of her chair without another word.  
\----------  
Now Kaidan was never one for believing in love at first sight, it was a silly concept to him and while he never claimed to be a hopeless romantic it was the closest thing to describe what he felt the moment he laid eyes on her. 

Kaidan watched Lily as she joked with her brother, he knew this was probably creepy and he should just go up and talk to her like any normal person would, but every time he was around Lily he couldn't think straight. Like she had some sort of spell over him and it was almost too embarrassing to admit.

Shaking his head he went back to work on the panel in front of him "Hey Kaidan." 

Lily's voice came behind him, catching him off guard and he shocked himself on the console "Shit." He quickly pulled away, glaring at the offending piece of technology.

"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Lily immediately felt guilty, she hadn't meant to surprise him or hurt him for that matter, as indirect as it may be.

Kaidan turned to her, trying to play it off "Don't worry I'm fine Lily." He paused "I mean Shepard…I mean Ma'am." Their conversation hadn't started and it was already off to an awkward start, something Kaidan took complete credit for. 

Lily laughed "Just Lily is fine, I'm not important like my brother, no need to be formal." Kaidan could kinda understand why she felt that way, he didn't have siblings himself but it couldn't have been easy being the younger sister of Commander Shepard. 

"You're more than that, at least to me." She was taken aback by that, most of her career was spent in her brother's shadow, even now. There were times she doubts she'd have made N7 if it wasn't for her relationship with Anderson although Torfan had put her on the Alliance's radar. Not that she was proud of that either.

"Really?" She couldn't help the smile that formed on her face as she looked at him.

"Yeah, I like you Lily." The words were out his mouth before he could stop them and they both turned a bright shade of pink "I uh I mean uh…." He sounded like an idiot and felt like one too, at thirty two he could barely manage to talk to the girl he was interested in, it was almost sad if he were to be honest. 

"Me too, I came over because I wanted to get to know you better." She rubbed her arm as she looked away, nervously.

God but she was beautiful, even under the harsh orange light of this particular part of the ship "I saw you leave the med bay, are you feeling okay."

"Huh?" She was surprised he paid that much attention to her, it was sweet "Yeah just a check up for my fun disability I'm somehow allowed to serve with." Kaidan was curious but didn't want to pry but from the look on his face Lily could tell he wanted to so she'd save him the trouble "Ezzo exposure messed up my brain, I have biotics but got a nice side of seizure with it." She tried to laugh it off like normal even though she didn't think there was anything funny about it. That was just her coping mechanism.

"I'm sorry, does the Commander have the same problem?"

"Nope, he got all the fun of biotics and none of the side effects." There was bitterness behind those words "Lucky bastard." She'd always been jealous of him because of that, as a kid it wasn't a big deal but the older she got the more she hated how she was treated like she couldn't do anything on her own. Like she constantly needed a babysitter "Anyway, enough about me, did you get any fun side effects?"

"Sort of, my implant is faulty so I get the occasional migraine if I push myself too hard."

"Oh that's right, Chakwas mentioned that, how come you haven't retrofitted?"

It was a question he got often, people wondered why he stuck with his faulty implant when the L3s were safer but he had his reasons now if he wanted to answer or not was his business but he could tell it was just genuine curiosity on Lily's part "The newer implants may be safer but my powers wouldn't spike as high, besides one slip and you can't remember your own name." 

"I understand, I guess the transition would be a bit jarring.”

“I joined so I can help people, if that means I have to experience a migraine every once in a while for my powers to spike higher than I can live that.”

“That’s admirable of you, I doubt many people would think the same.” 

Kaidan shrugged, it wasn’t a huge deal to him if he were honest, sure the migraines are irritating to deal with but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make “Of course that isn’t to say L3s aren’t powerful, I mean you and your brother for example.” he backtracked, hoping he hadn’t offended her.

“I’m more interested in tech anyway, I wanted to be an engineer but because of my biotics they threw me into sentinel training.”

“Do you like it at least?”

“ I do, getting to charge in without worrying about turning into swiss cheese is a definite perk.”

Kaidan laughed, not sure if she was entirely serious or not but her and her brother did have a tendency to charge in without thinking so maybe it was for the best that she had tech armor to protect her, after all he’d be devastated if anything happened to her, not that he’d say that out loud.

\-----------  
"God it's fucking hot." Lily whined as they made their way back to the mako after opening the gate allowing them to explore the rest of Therum. 

"You're the one who decided on black armor." Aiden shot back, rolling his eyes. 

"No, you decided I thought it'd be nice if we all matched." She argued.

"Yeah and I said we're just fighting geth so it doesn't matter." 

Kaidan watched as they bickered in front of him, his eyes more focused on Lily and the way her ponytail swayed back and forth as she walked, she always had her hair tied back so perfectly, never a stray hair to be found and he often wondered what it looked like down and this time was no exception. 

"Right Kaidan?" They had both turned to look at him and he blinked in surprise.

"Huh?"

Aiden sighed and ran a hand down his face "That's it, next time I'm leaving you on the ship." He said, directed at Lily.

"What?!"

"I don't need two sentinels and my field medic needs to be alert." Was the only explanation he gave as he walked away. 

"I bet you do, considering how often you charge in like an idiot!" She shouted.

Aiden had to laugh at that "So do you, I don't wanna hear it." He shouted back at her as he continued to the mako.

Kaidan wasn't sure what to say, he felt like he indirectly caused an argument but it seemed as though one had been brewing since they landed and if he were to guess it was probably the heat "Sorry Lily."  
Lily turned around and her mood completely shifted "Don't sweat it, this'll blow over our fights never last more than a day."

"If you're sure…"

Lily nodded confidently "I'm sure, we just need to cool down."

"Literally or figuratively?" He asked, earning a laugh from her.

"Both, we hate the heat, summers on Mindoir were the worst because all we did was argue."

"That's hard to believe."

"Right? We grew out of that phase but this is the first time in a long time we've been exposed to heat like this." She leaned in close "If you ask me I think he's mad because it's bad for his hair."  
"I heard that!" He called out as he got into the mako.

Lily laughed "Come in let's go before he leaves us stranded."

They hopped into the mako just as Aiden was starting the tank back up "Jesus, took you love birds long enough."

"Oh don't be a dick." She said as she buckled herself in, she couldn't help but find the amount of seat belts excessive but given Aiden's driving she was glad to know she wasn't going to be launched through the metaphorical windshield.

Aiden gulped down the last of his mango flavored energy drink, usually Lily would replace his drinks with water so he didn't get dehydrated but she was slow on the draw and was almost positive dehydration was a major factor in why he was acting like this.

"I don't know how you drink those, they're disgusting."

"You're just jealous you can't have caffeine." He retorted as he drove over what he was sure was a geth corpse, if it could even be called that since they were robots after all.  
"Am not, I got our water bottles mixed up once and it was a far from pleasant experience."

"Big baby, it's just a drink."

"Ughhhh I can't stand you sometimes!" That was a popular phrase between those two, Kaidan had come to realize.

"So how far away are we from this asari scientist?" Kaidan asked knowing they'd continue on like this if he didn't change the subject.

"Not too far, navigation says we're close." She smirked and looked at Aiden, "Maybe Kaidan and I should go by ourselves."

"Last I checked I was the CO here."

"Oh of course, sir spectre sir but I'd hate for you to trip over your own tongue down there, what would I say to Anderson?"

"Oh shut up, if that's your worry shouldn't Kaidan stay too?"

"Uh no, Kaidan likes me and he's not the one always ogling the dancers when we go out."

"Only when I'm drunk." Aiden intentionally hit a bump and Lily hit her head.

"Ow, you did that on purpose." 

"Did what?" Aiden was trying not to laugh as he feigned innocence.

It was a valiant effort on Kaidan's part but he was now positive they'd find a way to argue over anything right now and decided to stay silent for the time being.   
\---------  
"Uh hello...can anyone hear me?" Liara's soft, nearly frantic voice rang through the cavern.

"Uh Aiden, I think we found our girl." Lily pointed out as Aiden made his way to the blue field suspending Liara.

"Doctor T'soni?"

"You're human, thank the goddess I thought the geth had found me." 

"What's with the…?" Lily gestured vaguely at the barrier "You know, the force field thing."

"It's a prothean barrier curtain, I thought it'd protect me from the geth."

"I mean, it's not that it didn't do that."

Aiden sighed "Lily…." He turned his attention back to Liara "How do we get you out?"

"The control switch is back behind me but first you need to find a way past this shield."

"Right, move out you two." They didn't get very far before the geth ambushed them.

"Ya know I'm really starting to hate these things." Lily commented as she overloaded a canister, taking out two at once.

"Now?" Aiden asked in disbelief as he pulled one towards him and shot it with his shotgun, the explosive rounds he used making it resemble a firework as it burst in midair.

Kaidan threw the last geth against the wall and they scoped the area before turning their attention to the giant mining laser next to them "This could work if we can figure it out." Lily commented as she examined it.

"Well you're the tech geek, get on it." Aiden pointed to the control panel.

"Aye sir." She said sarcastically as she went to work on the controls, grumbling angrily each time it flashed red "Alright, I think that did it." The ground started shaking and she fell over, clinging to the control panel.

"Good job, thanks sis." Aiden said as he slowly and carefully made his way down to the newly made entrance, Lily and Kaidan following behind him.

They came up behind and Liara looked over her shoulder the best she could for the position she was in "How'd you get in? I didn't think there was any way past the barrier."

"We blasted in with the mining laser." Lily answered as if it was the obvious conclusion.

"Right the mining laser, of course, that makes sense." 

"So how do we set you free?" Aiden asked.

"The switch is next to you." Liara informed them and Aiden walked over, pressing the switch and setting her free, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Okay we should probably-" Aiden was cut off by the room shaking around them "Go…"

"You don't fucking say." Lily shot back at him as she hurried for the elevator behind them, closely followed by her brother and the rest of the squad.

"Joker, ready the Normandy and lock in on my signal, on the double mister!" Aiden shouted over the comm as rocks fell from above them.

"Roger that Commander, ETA ten minutes." Joker responded, his calm voice in contrast to Aiden's frantic tone.

"Not much margin for error." Kaidan commented as the elevator took them to the upper level so they could escape when they were stopped by a Krogan and a band of geth.

"You have something I need, human."

"Oh yeah and what would that be?" Aiden asked as he moved in front of Laira.

"Saren paid me good money to bring her in and I'm not going back empty handed." He threatened.

Aiden and Lily exchanged a look and turned back to the Krogan, matching smirks plastered on their faces "She'll stick with us thanks." Lily waved him off and didn't seem to like that. The bounty hunter threw her against the wall and she hit the back of her head, sliding to the ground unconscious.

Aiden was stunned as he watched the blood run down the back of her head and down her neck "Lily!" Kaidan was the first to move, fear clearly in his voice, Kaidan wasn't the most emotionally open person in the world but Aiden could tell he was terrified and he realized now just how much he truly cared for his sister.

Turning to face the Krogan, his brown eyes now blue as he reached for his shotgun and charged at the Krogan forcefully enough to knock him back and onto the ground, pumping him full of heat sinks as rage overcame him. Liara didn't have a gun but luckily she was a biotic and aided Aiden in the fight, Kaidan using sabotage as he did his best to stabilize Lily, her seizures made head injuries even more dangerous as they usually would be and he wasn't going to leave her alone in case that did happen.

After the battle Aiden ran over to Lily, scooping her up in his arms before Kaidan could, which he understood as soon as he saw how terrified the Commander was. From what Lily had told him they were the only family they had left, Kaidan would be devastated if something happened to her but he guessed it was for different reasons.  
Aiden cradled her against him as they ran for the entrance, keeping as much of an eye on her as he could, he knew he had to move quickly and get her to Chakwas but he didn't want to jostle her too much. As soon as they reached the Normandy Aiden sprinted directly to the elevator, Kaidan staying with Liara, who despite not even knowing Lily was equally concerned for her.

Ashley jogged over "What happened LT?" In the short time they've served together the two women were friends in a matter of days and everyone knew it was because their personalities were so similar.

"Lily she uh...she got hurt so…the Commander is taking her to the medbay." Kaidan wasn't very expressive with his emotions, he was more for rationalizing than he was for feeling but even then, Ashley could tell he was scared. Ashley knew Lily had feelings for Kaidan and Ashley had a tendency to frown upon fraternization but Kaidan and Lily were close friends of hers and if they were happy she'd support them.

Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder "You go, I'll get the asari settled." 

Kaidan looked at her and nodded "Thanks…"

Ashley watched him leave and turned to Liara "Exciting first day huh?" She joked trying to ease the tension.

"Is she going to be okay?"

Ashley herself wasn't sure but she didn't want to worry the scientist more than she already was "Doctor Chakwas is one of the best don't worry."

Liara seemed to relax a bit "If you're sure…"  
\------  
Aiden watched as his sister convulsed on the bed, still unconscious and struggling to breath, she'd never had a seizure as big as this and while he knew what to do he felt helpless as he watched Chakwas, who happened to be surprisingly calm, stabilize Lily.

Lily eventually stilled and both Aiden and Chakwas let out a breath "Are you going to tell Anderson?" 

"I have to fill out a report, Commander." She stated plainly.

"Will they discharge her?" While Lily only joined because of him, Aiden could tell it meant something to her she wanted to help people and taking that away would be too cruel, even if it couldn't be helped.  
"I don't know...but she's a tech expert, they'll find some use for her.

"I guess, but it's physically impossible for her to stay still."

Chakwas chuckled "Hopefully it won't come to that, her readings this morning were very optimistic, hopefully they'll say it was the result of a combat injury and keep her on bed rest for a bit."  
"She'll hate that just a heads up."

"Oh I'm prepared, so far threatening her with needles has gotten her to behave."

Aiden snorted, after what she's gone through she wasn't scared of much anymore but needless are one of those things.

"I'll leave you two alone, if you need me I'll be in the mess hall."

"Thank you doctor." Aiden replied as he stroked Lily's cheek, he knew their mother would be mad at him, it was always his task to look after his baby sister and he had already failed her twice.

"I'm sorry Lil." His sister was more important to him than anybody or anything in the galaxy, could be because they're twins that they're closer than other siblings they've met but they'd always been joined at the hip. Aiden needed her to wake up so he could apologize for everything he said to her today and part of him wishes he didn't bring her along today. If he had known this would happen he'd have left her, as much as it'd make her mad and he knew she was an adult and he didn't have to coddle her this was a moment he wished he had done so. Aiden had no idea when she'd come to but he was leaving her side until he did even if that meant staying in the medbay all day, he'd do anything for Lily.  
\-----  
Kaidan sat in the mess hall poking at the sad excuse for food the crew was forced to eat on the daily and while normally it wasn't a problem today he had no appetite. Since they got back he had wanted to check on her but Aiden was in there and he didn't want to over step and as if the Commander had read his mind he got a message informing him Lily had woken up and he rushed to the medbay leaving everyone else confused. 

Lily rubbed the back of her head as Aiden helped her sit up "Owww, what the hell happened?"

"Head injury."

Lily nodded "Ugh, right…" 

"You had a seizure too."

"Well that's no sur-"

"A big one." Aiden cut her off, the seriousness in his tone catching her off guard.

"Not your fault."

"Didn’t say it was."

"No but I know you Aiden and I'm saying it wasn't your fault." She took his hand and squeezed it, even now his hands were so much bigger than hers, Aiden leaned in close and pressed their foreheads together.

"I'm glad you're okay sis."

Lily smiled "All thanks to my big strong hero brother." She joked as she pretended to swoon.

"Would it kill you to be serious?" He asked, rolling his eyes.

"Probably." People worrying about her made her uncomfortable and the main reason her and Joker were friends was because she had a tendency to deflect certain topics with humor.  
Aiden sighed as the door opened behind them and they turned around to find Kaidan, Lily's face lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as she laid eyes on him "Kaidan!"

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he came around to stand on the other side of her.

"Better now." Kaidan tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as he smiled at her.

"I'm glad, you had me worried." Aiden watched their exchange and silently took his leave, letting them have a moment.

Lily looked down smiling as she played with the ends of her hair "Sorry…"

Kaidan shook his head "Don't be," he tilted her chin up and he looked into her eyes, Lily stroked his cheek, his expression unreadable as he pulled away.

"Kaidan?"

"Seeing you get hurt….made me realize something."

"Is it bad?"

Kaidan shook his head "No...Yes...I mean I don't know." He looked at the wall as he spoke with his arms crossed and wearing that same old serious expression of his as if he were analyzing something "I care about you Lily, more than I should."

"I love you Kaidan." She told him honestly, the moment she saw him she loved him and it was painfully obvious now, Kaidan who was so duty oriented, so reserved but even underneath all that he was the kindest man she'd ever met but there were moments she doubted he saw himself how she did. Kaidan's gaze flickered to Lily and then back to the wall "Kaidan?"   
Being mindful of her head injury Kaidan kissed her and while it surprised her at first she didn't want to pull away, it was better than she imagined and as embarrassed as it made her Lily had imagined it on more than one occasion.

They pulled away, panting as they held each other's gaze, not speaking. There wasn't any more to say, not right now at least, Kaidan took her in his arms and held her, she smelled of lavender and he couldn't help but think how it suited her so well. Yeah she was a bit of a firecracker but even so she had a soothing presence, when he was around Lily he was relaxed, nothing else seemed to matter and for the first time in a while he felt human. Not like some weapon, not a freak or a monster as other non-biotics had called him in the past, he was just Kaidan. For the first time in a long time he could just be himself around someone and no matter what happened between them he'd forever be grateful that he met her.


	5. Noveria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that its been so long, November has probably been the longest month of my life orz

Lily dragged Aiden out of the crew quarters, he was hardly a morning person unlike his sister and ever since they were kids she'd have to wake him up or risk him sleeping the entire day "Can't believe I still have to wake you up in the morning." She said, rolling her eyes. 

"Remember what happened last time you didn't wake me up?"

"Yes! You missed your math quiz and said you wished you had a twin brother instead."

"You shouldn't have left for school without me."

"Ugh! Are we really arguing about this right now?"

"You brought it up."

"I can't fucking-" she stopped in her tracks upon seeing Kaidan in the mess hall, his curly hair still a mess from having just woken up and she couldn't help but think how adorable it was.

Lily pulled Aiden against the wall with her, visibly nervous. "What's wrong?"

She slapped a hand over his mouth and he looked at it, a mixture of annoyance and confusion on his face "Kaidan is over there." She whispered.

Aiden pulled her hand away from his mouth "I don't see the problem."

"Yesterday when he came to visit me I may have sort of told him I'm in love with him."

"You what?!" 

Lily punched him in the stomach to silence him and he doubled over "Shut up, I know."

"You used your biotics, you...brat." he coughed out as he slowly stood back up "So what did he say?"

"Well he kissed me…" Aiden wasn't surprised, he figured it was a matter of time "And we didn't really talk after that."

"I can go ask him."

"How the hell would that look?" It wouldn't be the first time he'd done it but this was different. 

"Or you could go talk to him." Aiden suggested.

"Oh yeah sure, I'll just go talk to him." Lily said, mockingly.

Aiden rolled his eyes "Hey Kaidan!" He called out, making the other man jump and nearly drop his empty coffee mug, Aiden beckoned him over and Kaidan set the mug down before making his way over to them.

"Aiden!" Lily was either angry or embarrassed but at the moment Aiden couldn't tell which one it was so he figured it was best to get out of the way before her biotics flared and threw him against the opposite wall.

Kaidan watched Aiden as he made a run for coffee maker "Good morning Lily." He greeted as if nothing happened between them. Had she imagined all that? She did hit her head pretty hard, it wouldn't have surprised her if that was the case. 

"Morning…can we talk in the crew quarters?" she knew it'd be empty right now considering most of the crew was either getting ready or eating breakfast so if there was a perfect time to talk to him it'd be now. 

"Did I uh say anything yesterday?" She asked as soon as they were alone.

Kaidan blushed, telling her everything she needed to know "Yeah...you did."

"Did we kiss too? Or was I just dreaming that again?" Lily slapped a hand over her mouth as soon as she said it and Kaidan looked at her surprised.

"Again?" He asked, it's not like he hadn't imagined what it'd be like to kiss her but he was shocked to hear her just come out and say it.

"No I didn't mean….ugh!" She placed her face in her hands and sat down at the table in the middle of the room "Forget I said that."

"Do you want me to forget about what you said yesterday too?"

Lily was silent as she stared blankly at the data pad in front of her, it would be easier to just go on like nothing happened but if she didn't act and someone else caught his eye she'd regret it forever "No...no I don't want that."

Kaidan came up beside her and took her hands in his "Good because I don't either." He looked into her eyes "I love you."

Lily shook her head "You don't have to say it because I did."

"I'm not, I've loved you since I laid eyes on you." 

Lily smiled up at him "Really?"

"Yes, really." Kaidan said as he leaned in, pressing their lips together. It wasn't the first time she'd kissed someone or even been in love but everything felt so much different with Kaidan, like she was experiencing all these scary, amazing, wonderful feelings for the first time.  
\---------  
Aiden watched as Lily and Kaidan flirted like usual but something was different this time, it wasn't awkward they actually seemed comfortable with each other. 

"They're cute huh?" Ashley asked as she sat next to Aiden.

"They're standing next to each other." He dead panned making Ashley laugh.

"Come on Skipper, you aren't even a little happy for your baby sister?"

"Why? Because she's flirting with Kaidan?" He had no idea what she was talking about but the look on Ashley's face was very telling.

"She didn't tell you?"

"What? Tell me what?"

"Oh uh...I think I'll let her take care of that, it's not really my place."

"Chief Williams, explain, that's an order."

"Also an abuse of power." She shot back.

"Williams." He said sternly and she sighed as she gave in.

"Yes Commander, well according to Lily, her and Kaidan are more than friends as of yesterday."

"Excuse me?" He looked at her clearly bewildered and it was an odd reaction considering how close they were but part of him was a little hurt someone else knew before he did.

"Is it that surprising?" 

"No just…"

"Is it the fraternization angle?"

Aiden shook his head "No they're smart, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Hm...if you say so Skipper." She wasn't sure what his hangup was but before she had the chance to ask he stood up from his chair.

"That'll be all Williams thank you." Ashley watched as he walked over to Lily and Kaidan, she probably indirectly just got the lieutenant killed and she wasn't sure if she wanted to stay and watch or not.

Lily and Kaidan's hands came apart from each other as Aiden stopped next to Lily "Lieutenant Shepard, Vakarian says he needs your help with the mako." It was a lame excuse, Garrus was perfectly capable of doing that on his own and he had proved it multiple times but his sister would just argue if he straight up told her to go away. 

"Really? He does?" She crossed her arms "Why not Tali?"

"Because…" he was mentally kicking himself right now, he of all people should've know that she was going to argue no matter what.

"Because?" 

Aiden sighed "Lieutenant it wasn't a request."

Lily scowled at him as she slowly turned around "Lieutenant it wasn't a request." She mocked as she sauntered off towards the elevator, leaving the two men alone, Ashley still watching from the table.

"Something you need, Commander?" Kaidan asked as if the scene in front of him hadn't occurred.

"Yeah about you and my sister, I hope this isn't some ploy to sleep with her." He usually tried to stay out of that aspect of her life but this was different.

"All due respect sir, I'm not the type to do that." Kaidan was clearly offended by the accusation and oddly enough that reassured Aiden.

"Sorry Kaidan, she's my baby sister so I'm a little…"

Kaidan nodded "I get it but I do genuinely care about her, I want to make that clear."

"I know but as her brother I have to say it, hurt her and it's the last thing you'll do."

They held eye contact for a couple seconds, Lily had warned him something like this might happen so had prepared himself but he knew Aiden was just doing it because he loved Lily, a sentiment he shared "I understand sir."

"Good, she's been through a lot, I just want her to be happy." Lily had only been in two relationships before Kaidan neither of which ended on a happy note and Aiden was there for both of them, he'd always be there for her no matter what but just once he wanted to see something go right for her.

"I know, me too sir." Aiden searched his face for any indication he might be lying but Kaidan didn't strike him as the type to lie about much or someone who would be particularly good at it either.

"Right well...good talk Lieutenant I'll let you get back to work." Aiden said as he shuffled awkwardly, his confident commander persona cracking as he stared at the floor, despite his appearance he wasn't the more confrontational of the two, that was Lily, he served more as a mediator, except for this exact moment of course.

Kaidan saluted him "Sir."   
\----------  
Lily stepped out of the elevator and directly over to the mako "Hey Garrus, my brother said you needed help down here." The turian looked at her confused, well at least what she thought was confusion, turians weren't as expressive as humans so it was a bit hard to tell.

"He told you that?"

Lily sighed "He lied didn't he?"

Garrus nodded "I'm afraid so, sorry you had to come all the way down here."

Lily shrugged "I'm always happy to see my favorite turian." She teased.

"Lieutenant the only other turian you know is Saren." He wasn't sure that was much of a compliment when his only competition was an indoctrinated mad man.

"Exactly! Which is why you're my favorite!" She called out as the elevator doors closed, taking her back to the crew deck so she could give Aiden a piece of her mind. Lily stormed out of the elevator, she was pretty sure Aiden had sent her away to terrorize Kaidan and he was about to regret it.

"Um Lieutenant?" Liara's soft voice came from behind her and Lily stopped to turn around.

"Oh hey Liara." Lily smiled at her and while she didn't have much of a reason to be, Liara always felt uneasy around Lily. Unlike her brother Lily was loud, hot-headed and stubborn, she'd heard Aiden refer to her as a firecracker more than once and while she did have to look up the term, once she did it turned out to be an accurate assessment.

"I was wondering if I could ask you about the Commander?" Liara practiced this a dozen times in her head but she was still nervous.  
"Aiden? What, do you have a crush on him or something?" She said it as a joke but the tinge of pink that appeared on her light blue skin told Lily it wasn't one "Oh shit wait, you do?!" Before Liara could escape Lily grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the empty table in the mess hall "Okay, girl talk, what do you wanna know?" 

Lily sat across from her smiling, her head propped up by her hands and Liara wasn't sure if she was doing this out of the kindness of her heart or to tease her. Humans were difficult for her to understand but Lily was a whole different story "I was interested in Akuze."

Lily stilled and her eyes went wide "Akuze…." After Akuze Lily was the only person Aiden would talk to for a long time, it wasn't exactly private what happened but its always rubbed him the wrong way that people praised him for losing all his friends to a thresher maw "Aiden lost a lot of friends that day, thresher maws see everyone as a snack and he learned that the hard way." 

"How did he survive?"

"Dumb luck and a shotgun?" Lily leaned back in her chair "To be honest he's not sure either, that day was kind of a blur, one minute he was joking with his squad and the next he was in the hospital."

Liara looked down at the table "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked."  
"Nah don't worry, Aiden won't flip out if you ask but he might not want to talk about it, mainly because he doesn't remember most of it." Lily could tell she felt bad and decided to quickly change the subject "Aiden cries at every vid with a dog in it."

Liara looked up at her confused by the sudden outburst "Huh?"

"Oh and he's a big baby when it comes to spicy food, has a weird thing about his height, and he's addicted to energy drinks, I usually just pour them out of the can and replace it with juice, he never notices."

Before Liara could ask any questions Aiden walked over to the table "Lily, stop scaring Liara." 

Lily gasped and placed a hand on her chest "Why Aiden I'm appalled you think I would do such a thing." 

"You shouldn't be." Aiden knew she was being dramatic, it was a habit of hers and normally he didn't care but he liked Liara and didn't appreciate Lily picking on her.

"No Shepard, it's okay, I approached her."

"You did?" Their personalities clashed and the last time he talked to Liara she vaguely mentioned being a little scared of Lily.

"Yeah, so there." Aiden rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you go bother Kaidan, instead." He shot back at her.

Lily stood up "Maybe I will, see ya around Liara." Liara waved to her as she walked away Aiden quickly taking the seat across from her.

"So what were you two talking about?" They had nothing in common so he couldn't fathom as to what the conversation they were having could've been about.

"Oh I'm nothing important really…" 

"Right, well do you have time to talk with me?" Ugh, what was he a high school student with his first crush? It was almost embarrassing how clingy he sounded.

"Of course I always have time for you Aiden." She hid her face with her hands "I mean Commander!"

Aiden smiled, his heart skipping a beat from the use of his first name "Just Aiden is fine." 

Liara slowly moved her hands away from her face, still feeling incredibly embarrassed but the smile he was directing only at her eased her nerves "Okay...Aiden."

Unlike his sister Aiden hadn't ever been in a serious relationship, he'd never fallen in love, he had his sister to look after he didn't have the time, hookups were the only thing he could manage but he didn't want his relationship with Liara to be like that. Aiden wasn't sure if what he felt was love but the more time he spent with Liara the more he liked her. 

\-----------  
"God it's fucking freezing." Lily said as she hugged herself, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm herself up.

"Lily we just left the ship." They had barely left the airlock before his sister started complaining and while he wasn't surprised given her dislike of cold weather it was still getting on his nerves.

"Yes, the nice warm ship with blankets and a heater." She was exaggerating of course but right now anywhere was warm compared to being out in a blizzard.

Aiden rolled his eyes "I need a tech expert, so like it or not you have to come along."

"Kaidan is the same class as me and from Canada, take him."

Aiden let out a heavy sigh "Keep bitching and I'll leave you on the ship." He threatened.

"Promise?" 

"I can't stand you." Aiden said as he walked ahead of them.

"Back at you." She shot back as she followed behind him because despite her protests if he needed her she wasn't going to let some snow hold her back.

Their relationship baffled Liara, she was an only child so she had no idea if this kind of behavior was normal but they always seemed to be arguing with each other, it was often Lily who instigated and Aiden was just retaliating, Liara still found it quite fascinating how quickly they would bounce back as soon as they made each other laugh.

"Stop right there! Your visit was unscheduled, we'll need to confirm your credentials."

Lily rolled her eyes "All you need to know is that he has more credentials than you."

"We're the law around here, show some respect." Keria spat and Lily raised an eyebrow at her, a smirk playing on her cherry red lips.

"Sergeant Sterling, secure their weapons." Lily snorted, all three of them were biotics, even if they did take their guns it wouldn't matter, they'd still be considered dangerous. 

"Are we gonna let them do this Ai?" Lily asked, her pistol drawn on the group of guards in front of them.

"Let's keep it civil people." Aiden said as he put his shotgun away.

"If you say so." But Lily still kept her weapon drawn in case anyone made a move against Aiden. 

"Captain Matsuo, stand down!" A woman's voice came over the comm and the woman in front of them froze, her stoic expression breaking into one of surprise "We confirmed their identity, Spectres are authorized to carry weapons here Captain."

Lily slowly reattached her pistol as Maeko spoke "You're free to go Spectre, I hope the rest of your visit is less confrontational." The Captain and her team went back to their posts and Aiden gestured for Lily and Liara to follow him inside. 

"Gianna Parasini, I'm sorry about the incident at the docking bay Commander."

"Did someone piss in your security chief's coffee today?" Lily mumbled causing Aiden to elbow her in the arm.

"Has anyone odd passed through here recently?"

"An asari matriarch passed through recently, lady Benezia."

"Benezia? She's here?" Liara fully expected to run into her mother, which is why she asked to come in the first place but she wasn't prepared for the reality of actually seeing her although Liara was nervous for one other reason, her feelings for Aiden, she didn't want him to suddenly push her away because of actions her mother took and even if he didn't Lily was protective of her brother and if she saw Liara as a threat she wouldn't let her anywhere near Aiden.

"You'll need administrator Anoleis' permission to leave this port."  
"Understood, can we go in now?"

"Of course, if you need anything I'll be in the administrator's office."

"I'm sure you want to ask me about my mother Commander, I'd understand if you would prefer I stay on the ship." She tried to keep her feelings as under control and hidden as possible but it was hard as she stared into Aiden's deep brown eyes, he didn't seem to be looking at her with contempt or suspicion but she didn't want to assume anything.

"No I don't, I trust you Liara." Aiden said it so casually but it meant the world to her. 

"No worries Liara, we all know you don't have an evil bone in your body." Lily playfully patted her on the back, a grin plastered on her face.

"Thank you, both of you, that means a great deal to me."

"Now come on, lest we keep madam Benezia waiting." Lily said as she walked to the elevator ahead of them.

"It's lady." Aiden corrected and she shrugged.

"Tomato, potato." Lily pressed the button to the elevator, slightly bouncing up and down in an attempt to stay warm.

"That's not…" he sighed and turned to Liara "Should we go?" Liara nodded and they joined Lily by the elevator, her carefree attitude making Liara feel much less anxious.

\---------  
"Please make this quick, I don't have time to entertain colonial rubes." The administrator said without looking up.

"You have a problem with colonials?" Lily asked, crossing her arms.

"Protectionist and communists, all of them." Like usual Lily's quick temper got the best of her and her biotics flared, the aliens could say what they wanted about Earth, it wasn't her home like Mindoir was and it's not like these smug council races knew or cared about how hard it was for human colonies.

"You son of a-" Aiden grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him, as much as the comment bothered him he didn't want to make matters worse considering no one wanted them there in the first place.

"Look, I'm conducting an investigation and it's a matter of galactic security." Aiden said calmly causing Anoleis to roll his eyes.  
"Yes isn't everything." It was a really good thing he wasn't as quick tempered as his sister.

"I need to get to peak fifteen, I'm looking for matriarch Benezia."

Anoleis shook his head "I'm afraid that you cannot, there's a blizzard and surface access has been cut off."

"Surface access you say?" Like asked, poking her head out from behind Aiden.

"Cut off I said, don't make an issue of this." 

"Forget him Ai, if he won't play ball someone else will." 

Aiden sighed "You're right," he turned back to the clearly annoyed salarian "thank you for your time, we'll be leaving now."

"Good, I received a dozen urgent emails while you dithered about." 

They walked out of his office but were stopped by Gianna as they reached the door to the plaza "Anoleis isn't the only one with permission to leave this port."

Aiden and Lily glanced at each other before walking over to her "You've never worked in the corporate world have you Commander? You can't bludgeon through bureaucracy."

"I can bludgeon pretty hard." Aiden was usually pretty patient but that patience was running thin by now.

"Talk to Lorik Qui'in, you should be able to find him in the hotel bar." She whispered, it wasn't much but it was probably all she could say seeing how close they were to the administrator's office. Aiden gave her a quick nod before leading them out of the office and following Gianna's directions left for the bar across the plaza. 

\----------  
"Lorik Qui'in?" Aiden asked as they approached his table.

"Ah and you must be the spectre that's recently arrived at our port."

Aiden rubbed the back of his neck "Guess there's no use in hiding it."

"Your pictures have already been sent to everyone at this port, so spectre, what can this old turian do for you?"

"I need to head to peak fifteen, I heard you might be able to help me."

"You need a pass, how convenient." 

"Convenient?" Aiden asked.

"Anoleis is investigating reports of my corruption, he has shut my office down while his hired goons ransack my office. "

"And that's relevant how?" Lily interjected.

"If you recover the evidence from my computer I'll give you my garage pass."

"We can do that." It was a simple enough request and if it got him where he needed to go Aiden didn't see a reason to refuse.

"Excellent, this osd contains an encryption key, just slide it into the drive and it will auto execute." Aiden took the disk and headed back to the elevator "Oh and do try to keep the blood stains off the carpet will you?" Qui'in called out as they walked away.

"And I'll just take that." Lily said as she plucked the device out of Aiden's hands.

"What is it?" 

"A fun little device that makes it so I don't have to hack my way through a heavily encrypted computer." If there was one thing Lily hated it was hacking, she was good at it probably better than Kaidan, not that she'd ever tell him that but like most things she didn't have the patience for it. 

"Isn't that what you do as a sentinel, hack?"

Lily rolled her eyes "No, my job is to overload the flashlight heads off geth, now let's go."

Aiden turned to look at Liara who for the most part had been pretty silent the entire time, she was shy in general but this wasn't her usual type of quiet "Are you okay Liara?" He asked, lowering his voice enough so only she could hear him.

"Aiden." Liara's dainty, gloved hand reached for his much bigger one "Are we going to have to kill my mother?" In her heart she knew what the answer was but she needed to hear him say it, because as impossible as it was, she still believed her mother could be reasoned with, that she could be saved from Saren's clutches.


End file.
